For years there were several numbers to call in Puerto Vallarta for emergencies, but, starting in January 2017, assistance from police, firefighters, or rescue personnel will be available by dialing 911.

Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - For many years we were taught to dial 066 in Puerto Vallarta for an emergency and though, thankfully, we haven't put it to much use, we will soon be able to revert to the ubiquitous 911 that is being adopted, slowly but surely, for more global usage.

Getting the world to cooperate and everybody to get on board for uniform numbers is a monumental undertaking. Though places like Tonga, Argentina, and St Vincent and the Grenadines have been using 911 for ages, other countries such as Chile, insist on using three separate numbers for fire, police and ambulance, which is amazingly confusing for newcomers, especially in cases of dire emergencies. Imagine calling the fire department and being told to hang up and dial the correct number.

Starting in January 2017, dialing 911 in Puerto Vallarta will get you all three of the emergency services listed above. The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) believes that unification standardizes structural and operation changes, and the project has been incredibly complicated in its enormity.

The development of the C4 System (Communication, Control, Command, Computer) has created a State Coordinator for all emergency attention. Currently these centers are serving over 112 million people with more than 300 comprehensive emergency centers throughout the country, with improvements being established rapidly.

The budget for this new system come from Federal, State and Municipal sources but each state is responsible for creating and facilitating their own schemes and instruments for responding to emergency calls. Puerto Vallarta will depend on the cooperation of the government of Jalisco, coordinated with the Riviera Nayarit and the immense hotel complexes in Nuevo Vallarta.

Once the call routing phase is in place by January 3, 2017, the next phase will be the locations of fixed numbers beginning March 1, 2017, followed by the geo-location of mobile numbers on June 1. Many states will be able to use 911 to call for emergency as early as October 2016.

Due to over 200,000 numbers in Mexico beginning with 911, those changes will need to be made first and foremost to avoid routing problems. It's a great idea whose time has come. Many people have 911 programmed into their mobile phones, which will soon be applicable in Puerto Vallarta.